Thoughts on Tackle
With the variety of hair jigs available, there’s really no
perfect rod, reel and line setup for fishing them. The choice
depends on the jig and situation.
Most pros fish 1/16- to 1/4-ounce jigs on medium or
medium-light spinning rods. Opinions vary on length, but a
spinning rod 7 feet long or even longer with a moderate
bend might help with making long casts and fighting down
bass on light line. Baitcasting rods range from medium to
medium-heavy.
“Light” is relative when it comes to line. On the
Tennessee River, 12-pound-test fluorocarbon seems to be
the most common choice for fishing 1/2-ounce bucktails,
and that’s lighter than what most anglers use for fishing
football jigs and Carolina rigs. Heavier jigs can be fished on
heavier line. Hibdon says he’ll use line as light as 6-pound
test with his finesse hair jigs on spinning tackle, and he
adjusts to accomplish the right sink rate – lighter line for a
faster sink, and vice versa.
3 Advanced Smallmouth
Finesse Tactics
Hair jigs being good clear-water baits, they often make for
killer smallmouth lures. Here are three advanced tactics that
can put smallies in the boat.
1. Gliding for Smallies
The Jig: 1/16- to 1/8-ounce BT Fishing
Boo Jig or Northland Marabou Jig
Tackle: 7-6 G. Loomis NRX 901S spin-
ning rod; Shimano Stradic CI4+ 2500
reel; 8-pound-test yellow PowerPro
braided line; 8-pound-test fluorocar-
bon leader
Where: Northern natural lakes
Scenario: Smallmouths live in water
less than 15 feet deep all summer in
many lakes in Jeff Gustafson’s native
northwest Ontario region. He fishes
isolated targets such as boulders and
clumps of water cabbage, “gliding” the
jig overhead through the middle part
of the water column.
Cast past the target, and
point the rod at the jig.
For longer casts, lift the rod
occasionally to raise the jig,
then take up slack and let it
glide back down.
The jig swings back like a pendulum.
No extra action is needed.
cabbage clump
rock pile
Hair Jig Trailers
Many hair jigs don’t require a soft-plastic trailer because the color and forage-imitating characteristics are built into
the skirt. Still, a trailer can be added to increase bulk or action.
Hibdon uses a trailer quite often on his hair jigs and always has.
“Most of the time we threw an Uncle Josh Eel on the back of it,” he says. “Then Mister Twister came out with a thing
called a SinSation, which had three legs. Nowadays it’s what guys call a chicken foot. That changed everything. It came
with a pair of arms and a little slinky tail behind it, like a Brush Hog has.”
For finesse presentations, it’s best to stick with subtle trailers. Hibdon suggests using the rear half of a Brush Hog,
including the two thin soft-plastic tails that stick out the back. Small spade-tail worms, realistic craws such as the original
Luck-E-Strike Guido Bug or Zoom Lil Critter Craw, chunks, and various other subtle trailers are good choices.
For ledge fishing, Gross prefers to not use a trailer if his jig has long, thick bucktail.
“But if it has thin hair or synthetic hair I put a 7-inch Zoom Fluke on it just to beef it up,” he says. “Three-quarter ounce
is usually what I run, but when I start putting those bodies on them I’ll usually jump up to an ounce.”
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FLWFISHING.COM I JULY 2017